1 1: Meet the Yandere

"The heretics down there buck the rule of the Imperium! They spit in the face of the Emperor's light!" Sister Josmica's voice boomed through the hold of the Valkyrie dropship. "It falls to us to purge them with His holy light! Sisters! We are the pure and faithful! We are the cleansing flame that will purge the galaxy of its corruption! We have our mission and by His will, we will see it done!"

Sabine's Sisters in arms roared their faith and determination. Sabine Hallow couldn't help but join them no matter how empty she felt. Sister Josmica did have a way with words after all. The transport aircraft shook with zeal around them as it tore through the sky toward the planet below.

Sabine sighed. Another planet, another chance to do the Emperor's will. If only the Emperor's will didn't feel so hollow nowadays…

She didn't have a problem with the Emperor or her duty. If anything, her faith was stronger than ever. Since taking her vows years ago, Sabine had seen nearly everything the heretics and Xenos had to throw at her. She spent the last of her teenage years and all of her early twenties fighting for the Imperium. Every battle won or lost, further entrenched in her mind the importance of her duty.

But the endless struggle also opened her mind to some… distasteful realizations. It was neverending. No matter how much she fought, how much she killed, how much she purged, the traitors and Xenos would still persist. It left her feeling like she only had one path ahead of her. And it was an utterly necessary one but it felt so very pointless at times.

The rebellion on Charon Prime where she was currently being deployed was about as routine as Sabine's deployments got now. The local PDF forces and nobles had risen up and overthrown the rule of the Imperium. That was pretty standard fare. The only spicy part, and the reason Sabine and her Sisters were being deployed at all, was that someone higher up the chain suspected the rebellion had heretical origins or influences. A part of her chafed at the idea that she could ever see a heretical uprising as normal, but it was the truth. She'd seen much worse during her time with her Sisters. Bringing a planet of peasants and fodder back into the Imperium's fold was almost a vacation for her.

Charon Prime was a Hive planet with a population of about 30 billion Imperial citizens. If even one percent of that number was currently engaged in open rebellion, the Guard and her Sisters would have their work cut out for them. One well-trained Guardsman was easily worth 100 heretics, but quantity had a quality of its own. Still, Sabine was resolved to fight as always. And she knew her Sisters carried that same determination. For that was what the Emperor needed from them. It was their duty, their honor, and their privilege to fight, kill, and die for Humanity. Sabine would not let her depression and bone-deep weariness change that…

She took a fortifying breath as their transport landed on the surface of the planet. The Guard had long since set up siege camps outside of Charon's many Hives. Sabine didn't even bother learning the Hive's name. It just didn't matter to her anymore. A decent portion of the planet had already been returned to Imperial rule. Only a few Hive cities were holding out now. The massive structure that loomed over the camp and cast a shadow over seemingly everything was one of them.

The Valkyrie's door dropped open, revealing the bustling camp to Sabine's eyes. She took a breath of the acidic and borderline toxic air and a familiar steely look appeared in her eyes. Her Sisters began to stream out of the transport and Sabine settled into the middle of the pack. She couldn't be first — that position belonged to Sister Superior Geneva or Sister Josmica — but she also refused to be last. Even in depression, she still retained some of her pride.

Sabine's squad drew eyes as they marched through the camp. Guardsmen and women stopped what they were doing to stare and salute. Some of the more pious soldiers made the sign of the Aquila as they passed. Sabine and her Sisters answered the awed gazes with stern and stoic nods.

At some point, Sister Superior Geneva peeled off from the group to report to the local command and receive their marching orders. The rest of the group followed Sister Josmica to where they would be bunking for the foreseeable future. Their quarters were a simple and bland prefab barracks building. A long open hall with beds lining both walls acted as the barracks' main room. The door to a bathroom and communal shower sat at the back of the room.

Sabine dropped her bag on a bed she picked out at random and sat down next to it. She stared off into nothing, lost in thought as the rest of her Sisters got settled in as well. A part of her prayed to the Emperor for something to change. Another part of her prayed everything would stay the same.

Sister Josmica addressed the room, "Be vigilant, Sisters! The Emperor's faithful receive no respite! We shall have our orders soon. Take this time to do what you need. Pray, bathe, eat, or sleep. Even walk around the camp if you need to remind yourself who and what we fight for!"

As usual as of late, Sabine found herself listening with only half of her attention. Sister Josmica's words struck true though. Sisters of Battle rarely, if ever, received time off. It was best to take advantage of it when one could. And Sabine certainly felt the need to remind herself of the people she was fighting for. Perhaps that would help fill some of the emptiness in her heart…

Her Sisters dispersed to do whatever they needed to at the moment. Sabine stood, nodded to Sister Josmica, and left the barracks. She began to wander the siege camp, taking in the sights and atmosphere while trying her best to ignore the deference and almost worship directed at her by most of the people she saw. She wasn't rude to anybody who greeted or thanked her but she also wasn't entirely comfortable with attention, even after a decade of being a fully sworn Sister of Battle.

The camp moved around her like a well-oiled machine. People ran to and fro. A commissar barked orders at a poor Guardsman. A group of Abhuman Felinids carried crates full of supplies, working extra hard to prove their worth to the Imperial Creed despite their obvious mutations. Half of a platoon of Guardsman were busy doing drills while the other half performed maintenance on their lasguns and other weapons. Everyone seemed to have something to do, someplace in the machine. Everyone but Sabine.

She walked until she found a spot to stop and think. The place she'd chosen was tucked away between two buildings, hidden from most of the camp's activity while still allowing Sabine a suitable view to people watch. She leaned against the fabricated structure and did just that. She watched the people of the Imperium busy themselves with various tasks and thought of the Emperor and the plight of Humanity.

This is what the Imperium was truly about. Cooperation in the face of adversity. Unification in the face of the unknown and heretical. Putting duty before the Great Enemy. That all of these people from multiple planets and systems could come together to fight for the Emperor's ideals. It was beautiful. It was tragic.

There must have been tens of thousands of men and women in this camp and millions in total throughout all the others surrounding the Hive City. How many of them would make it out of the coming battle alive? How many would throw themselves into the meat grinder for fractions of inches of gained ground? How many realized that they were fighting for the nobles and the bureaucrats more than they were for the Emperor?

With her mind preoccupied and elsewhere, Sabine didn't even notice the ball headed straight toward her head until a man stepped in front of its path. He caught the ball in one hand, turned to her, and gave her a goofy smile.

Almost immediately, Sabine found herself lost in a different way. No longer did her mind linger on the futile necessity of Mankind's constant struggle. The bright goofy smile set across a handsome face stole all of her attention. Time seemed to freeze as Sabine's mind burned the man into her memories.

His hair was so blond it might as well have been white. His eyes were as blue as a shallow sea yet as bright as any flame. High cheekbones and a chiseled jaw formed the frame of his face. A hint of stubble covered the lower half of his face as if an artist had used charcoal to shade his visage to perfection.

His body was toned but not sculpted. Like he'd earned his muscles through manual labor instead of gym workouts or gene-crafting. Somehow the lack of insane definition made him look stronger. Sabine absently registered that he was shorter than her by a few inches. He didn't feel shorter than her.

But through everything else about the man who saved her from a light bruise, Sabine kept coming back to his smile. That goofy, innocent, warm smile. The way it stretched across his face lit up her heart. For a moment, she didn't feel so empty. For a moment, she knew why she fought. And then he spoke and Sabine's stomach was sent into butterflies, her heart cooed as if she'd just seen a cute puppy, and something deep in her core clenched subconsciously.

"Oops, Sorry, Miss Sister. Didn't mean to spook ya. I'll tell the boys to be more careful when they throw this thing around."

"Ah, ahem… Quite…" Sabine said, fighting down an uncharacteristic blush. "What is your name, Guardsman?"

"Octus Humblestock, Miss Sister."

"It is fine for you to call me Sister Sabine. That is the least I could do for someone willing to put themselves in danger's path for my sake."

Octus' blush was adorable, "Aww shucks, Sister Sabine. Wasn't nothing, really. Anybody would have done the same."

"That may be," Sabine nodded. "But they did not. You were the one to act. It would behoove you to accept my gratitude."

"Be-what?" Octus said, his face scrunching up in confusion. "Sorry, Sister Sabine. My papa taught me in a farmhouse, not the Schola."

'Oh be still, my beating heart,' Sabine thought, "I see… Very well. 'To behoove' means 'to have a duty'. In this case, you accepting my gratitude would only be right."

Understanding and innocent joy lit up Octus' face, "Oh, okay! I know a thing or two about duty. Like it's my duty to serve the Emperor, right?"

Sabine's stomach did a flip as that goofy, carefree smile returned to Octus' face, "In a way… yes. Though this is nowhere near as significant as your duty to Humanity. You should always put that duty above everything else, Guardsman."

"Of course, Sister Sabine," Octus nodded. "Always. I should be getting back now though. It was nice meeting ya! Praise the Emperor and have a good day, Sister!"

Sabine found herself biting back a protest at Octus leaving so soon, "… Indeed. May the Emperor watch over you, Octus Humblestock…"

Octus gave her another loin-melting smile before turning and running off. Sabine watched him leave the entire time, baffled by the feelings a simple Guardsman had evoked in her. She could still feel her stomach doing flips and she couldn't figure out why. Octus was certainly a handsome man, but something beyond that drew her to him.

Surely it was his stalwart faith and naive purity, right? Yes… it wasn't attraction so much as it was… admiration. An admiration that filled a long-held hole of depression in her heart… That lit up her life in a way she'd never experienced before… After all, it was not often that Sabine met servants of the Emperor who were so sheltered from the darkness of reality. Even if it was just admiration, finding out more about Octus couldn't harm anything, right? And if she got another glance at the wholesome, heart-swelling light hidden behind that smile… well that would just be a fortunate side effect.

The most obvious explanation completely flew over Sabine's head as she watched Octus leave with her eyes locked onto his ass. He ran over to a group of soldiers. One or two of the soldiers seemed to heckle him about talking to her. Sabine wasn't close enough to hear words, but the way Octus seemed to defend her made something inside her preen.

She pushed off the pole behind her, walking toward the group while trying to look like she was doing something else. None of them paid her any attention as she walked past them except for Octus. There was that smile again. Sabine fought down a blush again and gave him a nod in return. Once she was past the group, she turned a corner and leaned against a wall within earshot of them.

"You're a damn lucky bastard, Humblestock! That Sister is probably dripping for you right now!" a boisterous unfamiliar voice said.

Sabine could practically hear Octus cocking his head in confusion, "Dripping? I didn't spill anything on her. All I did was talk to her a bit and smile."

"Nevermind… A handsome dumbass like you would never score with a Sister like that…" the first voice grumbled under his breath.

'What!? He totally could!' Sabine thought. 'Wait… where'd that come from?'

"Buddy, ya don't have to worry about a scoring system. I don't think Sister Sabine wants to play ball with us," Octus laughed.

"I… nah, it's not even worth it. I'll catch you later, man. Let's go, boys."

"Huh, I wonder what that was about," Octus muttered to himself after the group walked away. "Oh well."

Sabine heard him begin walking away and ghosted after him. She followed from a safe distance, hiding when he turned his head even though he wasn't looking for her. Octus was the only person in the camp that didn't notice Sabine trailing him. She wasn't being as stealthy as she thought. Octus was just that dense…

He hummed a carefree tune as he walked and Sabine found her heart unconsciously singing along. He was friendly to the people he walked past, greeting everyone and even stopping to help on occasion. He helped a new recruit clean their lasgun. He stopped to help stabilize someone carrying more boxes than they should have been. He even stopped to help a mere servitor that was struggling to get up a flight of stairs. Truly, Octus' charity and generosity knew no bounds.

Sabine peeked out from behind a Guardswoman, completely unaware of how comedic she currently looked. The Guardswoman was a whole foot shorter than Sabine and she had to scrunch up to fit into her silhouette. The woman turned slightly to nervously ask if the Sister behind her needed something, but Sabine just shushed her with a finger to her lips and went right back to 'hiding'. After helping the servitor, Octus turned toward Sabine and her 'cover'. His eyes scanned the camp for something else to do, completely passing over the petite Guardswoman that a Sister in a suit of power armor was poorly hiding behind.

Eventually, something else grabbed Octus' attention and he took off in that direction. Sabine followed, leaving behind a confused and slightly traumatized Guardswoman in her wake. Even with the constant clank of power armor echoing behind him, Octus remained completely ignorant of Sabine's presence.

Octus soon reached the thing that had grabbed his attention. A mousey — and adorable, Sabine begrudgingly admitted — Guardswoman who was absorbed by her task, filling something out on a datapad while she walked. Octus slapped an arm around her shoulder with visible affection, making the mousey girl stumble slightly. She adjusted her glasses as she regained her footing and looked up at Octus. He gave her that same goofy smile and Sabine seethed internally for some reason she couldn't readily identify.

Sabine sneaked her way closer to the pair of soldiers and got within earshot just in time to hear the mousey Guardswoman speak, "Octus! Haven't I told you to be more careful about surprising me like that? What if I dropped my pad? Commissar Lady would be upset if it broke and I couldn't do my job. I'd… I'd have to report you, you know?"

Octus sheepishly chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, "My bad, Lacey. Ya know how excited I get when I see ya. I couldn't control myself, 's all."

The Guardswoman, Lacey, squeaked and looked away shyly. She mumbled something like "It's okay…" while unconsciously leaning into Octus' touch. Something burning and green built in Sabine's gut. A winning smile flashed across Octus' face before he abruptly let go of Lacey's shoulder like it was nothing. Lacey squeaked and almost fell again, huffing and muttering something Sabine didn't catch after she straightened herself for the second time.

"No matter, Octus. Did you need something? I am quite busy," Lacey said.

Octus smiled, "Nah, just spied ya from across the camp and wanted to talk to my friend. Ya know how lonely I can get."

'Good, he only thinks of her as a friend… Not that it matters to me…' Sabine thought.

Lacey sighed and smiled, "Very well. Unfortunately, I am busy at the moment. You'll have to find someone else to talk to."

Octus didn't look too disappointed at that news, "S'alright, Lacey. Sorry to bother ya. Still wanna eat together in the mess for dinner?"

"We'll see. I may still be too busy to take a break for dinner."

"Well, I'll just keep an eye out for ya! See ya later, Lacey," Octus said, excusing himself with a wave.

Lacey waved back with a smile on her face, but sighed and looked down at her feet when Octus was gone. She was distracted enough by her thoughts that she didn't hear Sabine approaching her until Sabine spoke.

"Who are you to him?"

Sabine's menacing voice and the shadow that was suddenly looming over her made Lacey jump, "Eeeep! What?! Oh, Sister. I didn't see you there. Did you need something?"

Sabine repeated herself, putting a bit of her complicated and unfamiliar new feelings into her tone, "Who are you to Octus Humblestock?"

"U-Uh… a friend?" came Lacey's dumbfounded reply. Why was a Sister of Battle asking about Octus like this?

Sabine nodded as if she'd just been partially reassured by Lacey's reply, "And what do you think about Octus Humblestock?"

"H-He's great, Sister! A real dedicated servant of the Emperor!"

"Yes, I gathered as much. But I'm asking what you think of him as a friend."

"He's… nice? Kinda like a puppy. A stupid, cute, and sexy puppy…"

"Indeed. Truly he must be blessed by the Emperor. Never before has a man captured my interest like Octus has."

"Oh? Ooooooh… That's how it is. I understand, Sister. I… I could put in a good word for you if you want?"

Sabine shook her head, "I do not believe that will be necessary. You have my thanks for the offer though. Now if you will excuse me, I must continue my stalking-… I mean surveillance! May the Emperor smile down upon you!"

She took off in the same direction that Octus went, leaving Lacey behind in confusion. Lacey watched Sabine try her best at stealth until she caught up to Octus. Octus and his poorly concealed stalker soon disappeared into the bustle of the camp. Lacey was left with nothing to do but pinch herself.

"What the fuck just happened?"